Ivied Feet

I don't really think it's on to write about the same band more than once, especially seeing as there's so many great bands here that I haven't got round to telling you about yet. But on Sunday we went to see Los Petit Fellas in an afternoon gig at a hamburger restaurant that opened its doors to an all-ages public. Yep, we used to like all-ages shows when our friends were straight-edgers and listened spellbound to Dag Nasty. Nowadays things have changed, and we likes all-ages shows cos we is parents and want to bring our child up as a rocker.

Wearing our age on our sleeves, we got to the restaurant before the crew had even started setting up for the gig, so we had a long slow lunch (of hamburgers, obviously. They do a mean falafel burger in this place) and then finally, the venue opened the doors to the queue of youngsters waiting to get in just for the gig. The thing that strikes me about the Petit Fellas is that their audience goes mad for them. If you listen to the singer, Nicolas, then they are a hip hop band. If you listen to the keyboards, they could be a sixties garage band, although yesterday I started to hear echoes of Steve Reich coming through on one of the repeated riffs. If you listen to the guitar and drums they are a street-fighting rock band. And if you listen to the sax, well, it's inevitable - they could be a jazz band. Mix it all up, and you get this exhilarating blend that has the locals captivated. That's the bit I don't get. The 150 strong crowd in this gig were singing the words to the songs back at the band before they'd even got into the first verse. Where did that come from? How come they are playing small gigs and yet they seem to have massive appeal? I know I love their shows, all-ages or not. Here's a ropey phone video of a slice of the set. More to give you an idea of the reaction of the crowd.